The Student Room Group

Thinking of leaving my course

Hi i would like some advice on student tuition fees. I am 7 weeks into a school direct PGCE course and i have been battling for about 4 weeks now with the paperwork, workload and long days 8-6 then having to come home to my own children. I am not entitled to a bursary i have received £1200 so far maintenance loan and of course Student Finance have authorised the £9000 fees for this one year course. I am wondering if i leave how much am i expected to pay back, is there a cut off date for when id be entitled to pay it all back etc. I really don't want to have to drop out but it is actually causing me great stress and anxiety at the moment that I'm not sure it's worth it, plus everyone i speak to regarding teaching and indeed the teaching staff in my school i find very negative i need more positivity in my life. Thanks for your help
Original post by Beccyg
Hi i would like some advice on student tuition fees. I am 7 weeks into a school direct PGCE course and i have been battling for about 4 weeks now with the paperwork, workload and long days 8-6 then having to come home to my own children. I am not entitled to a bursary i have received £1200 so far maintenance loan and of course Student Finance have authorised the £9000 fees for this one year course. I am wondering if i leave how much am i expected to pay back, is there a cut off date for when id be entitled to pay it all back etc. I really don't want to have to drop out but it is actually causing me great stress and anxiety at the moment that I'm not sure it's worth it, plus everyone i speak to regarding teaching and indeed the teaching staff in my school i find very negative i need more positivity in my life. Thanks for your help


Your tuition loan is paid to your university in 3 installments - 25% in autumn, 25% after christmas and the last 50% in May. If you leave at this point then you *should* be ok for tuition fees (but check with the university hosting your SD PGCE - their finance dept should have a policy on what fees they'll charge and when for students who withdraw - some universities will come after you directly for payment above the 25% if you drop out at certain points).

Your maintenance loan covers your costs between the first and second payment dates. If you withdraw now then the time between now and your next payment date will be divided by the time between the two payment dates to work out how much you've been "overpaid". Any overpayments will be expected to be paid back ASAP (SFE are reasonable about how much and how quickly that is - but it isn't just added to your income dependent student loan repayments). The easiest way to avoid this is to withdraw from your course just before the next repayment date *if that's possible*. Sometimes knowing "I just need to do enough to make it to Christmas" will be ok for a student to continue with their course for a short period of time.

The student finance/funding/support team at your host university should be able to help you work out the likely overpayment amounts and help you work through the paperwork to withdraw on the date you decide.

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